hermionewrites - Tumblr blog

hermionewrites · 4 months

Text

1. through fire, nature is reborn whole.

wc:2400

One of the most daunting moments for an eleven year old wizard is having your fate decided by an raggedy old hat. It was a dirty brown with a gash for a mouth that let out a gravely voice. One by one people got called up and sorted into one of four houses. Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Hundereds of eyes follow the poor student as they sit on the rickety old stool and wait for the leathery thing to cry out. Tiny feet shuffle foreward and cram close together, thinning in numbers as the night goes on.

The ceiling above them morphs and changes to match the exact state of the weather outside. Showing the light drizzle turn to a violent heavy rain. It was a grand room, with high ceilings coverd in ornate, delicate carvings. Square windows let the last light of the day into the hall, lighting it up softly.

A boy was called up to the stool and the hat doesn't call out a house straight away. It hums and huffs for a long time and the hall settles in a expectant silence. Sabrina's face contorts in confusion as people around them start some idle conversation an the boy on the stool looks embarassed as he waits for the decision.

"It's called a hat stall." The boy next to her whispered, leaning over to her slightly. She looks around at him, more confused than before. He had rounded glasses and messy dark brown hair that stuck up at the back.

"A hat stall?" She clarified, no idea what he was on about.

"It's when the hat takes longer than five minutes to sort someone." He explained quietly. "I'm James, James Potter." He introduced himself and holds his hand out to shake.

"Sabrina Rivera." She replied and shook his hand. It was slightly clammy, she wiped it in her robe once he lets go. More people had started to whisper the longer the hat took to decide where to put the boy.

"What house do you want to be in?" He can't stand still as he asks, impatient for his turn while his eys dart to the hat every couple of seconds.

"I'm not sure, I don't know a lot about them." She shrugged, not much care for what house she got placed in.

"I want to be in Gryffindor, like my parents." He began hopefully. "But I'd be happy with Ravencaw or Hufflepuff. Not Slytherin though." He exclaimed grimly.

"What's wrong with Slytherin?" Sabrina asked, taken aback slightly by the bite in his tone and glancing over at the table with the green banner embelished with a snake above it.

"Evil and rotten, the lot of them." His face turned grim and he rolled his eyes at the table. Sabrina opened her mouth to ask more questions when the hat finally shouted out.

"Gryffindor!" It projected and the round blond boy on the stool looked greatly relived and the long table let out a huge roar. Other tables clapped politely, as he walks quickly over to the table.

Mcgonagall's sharp voice cut through the noise of the crowd. "James Potter." She called out to the small crowd, all huddled at the front.

"Good luck." Sabrina whispered as he confidently strides up to the front of the hall. Placing the hat on his head, it contemplates for a couple seconds before crying out. Gryffindor again. His face lights up and he bounds over to the table of his dreams. The cheers were massively loud this time. They were happy to have him. James' face was plastered with a huge smile as he shakes the hands of the people sat around him.

After the cheering had died out, Professor Mcgonagall called out again. "Sabrina Rivera."

Her feet shuffle up to the stool and it rocks slightly as she sits on it, one of the legs worn away slightly more than the others. Then Professor Mcgonagall lifts up the hat to her head. She was a tall, severe-looking woman who had her long dark hair pulled into a tight bun. She lowered the hat onto her head and the dusty smell hit her nose, sending a small shiver down her spine. It barely touched the fly-away hairs that were sticking out of her ponytail before it made it's decision.

"Slytherin!" It erupted out and Sabrina's stomach dropped as she slowly dragged herself over to the table. However, unlike before, there was no roar of applause and the silence was haunting. She could hear her own footsteps on the cool stone floors and she plants herself on the end on the end of the table.

"Are your parents magical?" The girl opposite her asked, not even bothering to introduce herself. She had long black hair, bright blue eyes and a nose that pointed downwards. The girl next to her and a blonde bob and blue eyes too. "I don't recognise your name, thats all."

"No, they're not." Sabrina answers naively. She watches the girls faces contort from a neutral to full on disgust. Others around that were listening in also narrowed their eyes.

"I'm a Bulstrode, pureblooded." She boasted, a huge pridful smirk crawls onto her face. The blonde next to her sneers, practically retracting back into her own face.

"Why is there a mudblood in our house." She spit, turning her nose up at Sabrina, like she had smelt a foul stench.

Mudblood. Sabrina had never heard that word before, she thought the word for people like her was muggle or muggleborn. The disgusted tone that coated the words gave the impression that mudblood was not a term of endearment. Whispers travel up the table and they all turn to glare and leer at her. Heat travelled up the front of her chest and rolled up her neck. She hunched over, tucking her hands into her lap.

The rest of the sorting dragged on forever, every time the hall lit up with cheer. Then another was sorted into Slytherin. He was skinny and had short mousey brown hair, reflecting auburn in some lights. His name was Thaddeus Travers. When he was sorted, the table ruptured out in applause, cheers and noises of exterme happiness. He was immediately welcomed to the table, an older kid who looked like him pulled him in for a huge hug. What was wrong with having non-magical parents?

A light clinking fills the room and everyone swivles their heads towards Headmaster Dumbledore. He was an old man; a face full of wrinkles; silvery almost white hair that flowed past his shoulders and a beard to match. Purple velvet robes cover him, with small embroidered gold stars all over. He carried a slight mischievous whimsy in his eye and he walks up to the small podium. A gold owl is carved into it, it's wings spread wide as if it was going to take flight.

"Now, a warm welcome to our new students and another for our old ones." He projected across the room. "Another year of magical education awaits you! Now a few rules." He says. "Mr Filch wants to remind you that the forbidden forest, is indeed forbidden. And no magic in the coridoors! Now!" He claps his hands together, "Tuck in."

Just as Sabrina's face was going to scrunch up in confusion, hoards of food appear on the table. Platters of roast beef, chicken, pork and lamb chops, sausages, bacon, steak, joints, pies of all varieties, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, gravy, and bread rolls. It was very... English. She plates up a small bit of everything, her eyes widen in wonder at the sheer amount of choice.

After inhaling the dinner, the plates disapeared. Only to be replaced with more filled with desserts. Peppermint humbugs, stacks of cupcakes, and regular cakes. However, no one even bothered to soclaise in her direction.

The feast came to a close and Dumbledore rose once again. "The houses respected prefects will escort the first years to the dorms.” Then, an older girl in green robes stands up, telling the first years to follow her.

The corridors were long and winding, all looking identical. The labrynth of stone walls lead to a large hub of staircases. Suddenly, one comes out of place, rumbling as it moves to another balcony. The other houses heading up the flights apon flights of stairs, Sabrina looked up expectantly, excited to see where the Slytherin common room was.

"We're down in the dungeons." She said, pointing down a large staircase. The group followed and the lower and deeper they got into the castle, the more dark it became. There was a slight damp and dingy smell as they came to a stop in front of a stone wall.

It was an ordinary stone wall. Stuck together with cement. Rough, grey stone. None of her new classmates looked confused as they all stood staring at a plain stone wall. Boring, plain, solid stone would have been there for centuries.

"The password is pureblood." At that the bricks started to grind and pull away from eachother. They fold on top of another brick, creating a makeshift arch and revealing, a set of deep oak double doors. They gilded open and the prefect led the group down the black marble stairs, shiny enough to see your reflection in it.

The common room is cool and dimly lit. There is a fountain filling the enterance with the sound of trickling water. The ceilings are ornately carved, they give off a sweet scent of damp stone. The dark wood bookcases that line the walls are home to rare books and antiques such as skulls, skeletons, crystals, and pottery. In the corner there is an emerald grand piano that is playing itself, the melody it exudes is soft but haunting. There are velvet armchairs placed around where many students are curlded up reading or competitively playing chess. Long tables are set up for study groups, illuminated by a large crystal chandiler above it.

However, what caught Sabrina's attention the most was the windows. They are round and stone lined but what layed beyond them was much more perplexing. They were underwater. Blue light from the moon cuts through the murky water. It made the entire room have a green hue.

"The girl's dorms are on the left and the boy's are on the right." The prefect said, pointing in opposite directions for each. There was a small winding staircase at each end, made of the same reflective marble as the enterence stairs. Portraits of people line the walls near the dormatories and Sabrina jumped back when one of them moved out of it's frame.

"I hope I don't have to room with the mudblood." A girl infront of her whispers and the one next to her agrees. Fiddling with her fingers, Sabrina looks for her name on her dedicated door. Her dorm was on the right side, second door down. There was a peice of yellow paper, or parchment as wizards called it, with four names written on it. Violetta Bulstrode, Melody Fawley, Sabrina Rivera, Regina Rowle.

Pushing open the door, Sabrina shuffles in awkwardly and all three girls inside abruptly stop giggling and glares fill their faces. Disappointment following quickly after. Her eyes flit aroud the room and take it all in. It was spacious and finely decorated. Next to each bed there were desks that matched the rest of the dark wood in the room. Imported rugs cover the floor and are incredibly soft on her feet as she makes her way to the bed in the corner.

The bed was four poster, adorned with green bedsheets that felt impossibly soft. Curtains are gathered at each post and tied off with bows. Sabrina grabbed her trunk and slid it under the bed, pulling out her pyjamas for the night. Climbing in, she shoves the curtains across, creating a barrier between the other girls and her. They had resumed their giggling and the occasional snide comment.

She laid there on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Millions of thoughts swirled around in her mind, eating away at her stomach. She thought back to the conversations during the sorting. If all Slytherins were evil because they didn't like muggleborns, how evil was she?

____

Meanwhile in Gryffindor tower, James was sat in his own dorm. It was warm and comfy with wooden floors that creak when it rains. Thick drapes line the windows to keep the heat in and keep out the harsh morning light. The cluttered writing desks organise themselves every time you enter the room.

"So you're glad you got Gryffindor then?" He asked the boy on the bed next to him. They had met on the train, both sharing their hopes to be placed in Gryffindor, for it being the best house.

"Yeah, I'm glad l'm not a snake." He said, a small smile on his face. "My parents are going to be so mad."

Then two more boys push open the door to their room. James' face lights up in recognition.

"Hey! We met you guys on the train too!"

"I'm Peter." One of them introduced himself. He was blond and short. His cheeks were rosy and round. Awkwardly, he stood next to the other boy he walked in with.

"You were the hatstall, right?" James asked. Peter nods sheepishly, turning his head down to the floor. "James." He added quickly afterwards, realising he has forgotten to introduce himself.

"I'm Remus." The other boy said. He was taller, with long limbs. His hair was mousey brown and floppy. And a face with small thin scars littered over it, some white and pink. He was carefully placing many, many pairs of eclectic socks into his bedside table.

"Do you have enough pairs of socks, mate?" Sirius asked sarcastically.

"Have you got enough hair on your head?" Quipped Remus. Suddenly, all four boys bursted out in loud, contagious laughter. The kind that made you roll around grabbing at your stomach, gasping for breath between laughs.

"Where are you guys from?" Peter asked, pulling out his uniform for the morning.

"Cotswolds."

"London but my family comes from France."

"Wales."

"Middlesbrough."

Their conversation lasted long into the night, the room filled with laughter. The group barely getting any sleep before their first day of classes.

#james potter #sirius black #remus lupin #peter pettigrew #marauders #james potter fanfiction #james potter x oc #sabrina rivera #lily evans #harry potter #fanfic #wattpad #posted on ao3

3 notes · View notes